Arranged to be Mates: Christmas Special
by PsychoticSmartypants
Summary: *Companion piece to Arranged to be Mates* Today, he believed, was one of the first time he's actually enjoyed the company of another human being, where there was no air of sex, or silent companionship. Artemis and he had a bond that, he realized, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't sever. And for once, he was grateful for a part of his past resurfacing. Derek/OC


**_Happy New Year and Merry Christmas, Hanukkah or whatever you're celebrating. I hope you have a great one and maybe to add to the holiday spirit, I give you Arranged to be Mates: Christmas Special! *Cheers* This is my present to you for the hols, because I was a shitty updater, but I hope this makes it up. Review and let me know if you liked it!_**

 _Arterek Christmas Playlist_

 _All I want for Christmas is You- Mariah Carey/ Michael Buble_

 _Santa Clause is Coming to Town- Glee Version_

 _Jingle Bell Rock- The Vamps_

 _I'll be Home for Christmas- Michael Buble_

 _Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas- Sam Smith_

 _Winter Song- Sara Bareilles & Ingrid Michaelson_

* * *

 _Holiday Special_

"Where is everyone?"

Dressed in a festive sweater (because the holiday spirit gets to the best of them), a pair of clean jeans and a loose, woolen grey coat, Artemis stepped in the warehouse, or should she say _were-house,_ dragging a large suit case behind her, filled with all the things Artemis could possibly imagine would be useful on their little getaway to the hotel.

Derek looked up from his book, which he read seated on the grubby old coach, slightly startled at her sudden appearance.

"You're here early. I didn't expect you'd be ready in a day."

With a raised eyebrow she answered, "Dude, I work for a super secret organization. When shit blows up, we're supposed to be able to get out in tops an hour."

"But-" He started to say but stopped mid way with a shake of his head and went back to reading.

"But what? Finish what you were saying Hale. I'm curious now."

He shrugged and gave her an odd look, "It's Christmas."

She gave him an incredulous look and set her suitcase against the wall before pulling off her mitts and sitting next to him.

"Yeah I know," She looked across the rather barren warehouse. "Speaking of which, why aren't there any decorations. The Stilinski resident, and most of Beacon Hills, looks like Santa shat on it."

A smile tugged at his lips at the crude description but he didn't look up. And then he just shrugged to answer her former question.

"Look man, just because you don't like celebrating a holiday you no longer see a purpose for celebrating, doesn't mean the pack doesn't either. Pack is family and family spends Christmas together."

Derek looked up for a fleeting second and then back to his book. His eyebrows scrunched together, telling Artemis that he was thinking about it.

"It's too late to buy anything anyway."

"You know you're wrong." She gave him a teasing smile, knowing well that he knew they could still get Christmas lights and stuff. Even a new tree, if they so desired. She chuckled remembering just how she knew he knew that.

 _Talia and Mary had left the tree to their children._

 _Cora and Lucas had made the cutest handmade ornaments- specially endearing of which were the gingerbread men and women that had everyone's name on it with striking features that identified them. For example, Derek was a relatively skinny one with dark hair and green M &Ms as eyes and Laura a tall one with hair made of black liquorice strings, and Peter with hair a smear of chocolate with blue M&M eyes. They giggled as they made more._

 _Laura was in charge of discreetly filling the stockings with the small presents Talia had arranged for, but for the tree, she was responsible for buying the ornaments, lights, streamers etc._

 _Saint Peter, the not so saint-like Peter, was supposed to be decorating the house-laurels, ribbons, mistletoe, all that jazz. But obviously, being Peter, he chose to shirk on those responsibilities and lazed around, occasionally making inappropriate ornaments which usually earned him a slap on his thick skull from either Artemis or Laura._

 _Derek and Artemis were responsible for the actual decorating. As in they were the ones who put all the ornaments up as they desired and lit it up. They were waiting for all the others to finally arrange for all the things so they could start and in the meantime were cart wheeling in the living room._

" _You're not doing it right! Your legs keep tucking in."_

" _No they don't" Derek huffed indignantly, "I'm doing it just fine."_

 _Artemis rolled her eyes, watching Derek do another imperfect cart wheel, and barked out a laugh when he nearly knocked over the tree._

" _Derek! Enough!" Laura practically growled, but her eyes gave away her disinterest._

 _He huffed and sat next to Artemis on the carpet near the fireplace and they played thumb wrestling until Luke and Cora declared that they were done with their ornaments and they could now decorate the tree._

 _Everyone left, leaving Art and Derek alone to fix up the tree. They gave each other those shit eating grins they reserved for each other and launched into the decoration._

 _They were practically done now, when Derek expressed his desire to place the star at the top._

 _That literally earned a hiss from Artemis who declared_ she _was going to place the star on the top._

 _They fought and it wasn't_ _until Artemis placed a well aimed kick on his shin that he agreed that she do the honours._

" _But I'm not lifting you up so have fun short stack."_

 _She grolewd again and with a scowl flipped her hair over her shoulder and pulled out a chair._

 _Fail- she still couldn't reach the tip._

 _She attempted climbing the coffee table, but for fear of breaking the glass, she clambered off relatively quickly._

 _After trying to climb the tree herself, like a cat, and almost tipping it over , Derek, seeing the sheer determination to place the star on the top herself, rolled his eyes and lifted her onto his shoulders where first she sat, gave his a blinding smile which he returned because not returning it would be a sin, and then stood on his strong werewolf shoulder._

 _She balanced herself on his shoulders and placed the star on the top and clapped happily when she succeeded. Only flaw she bounced in her place too, throwing Derek off balance and they tipped over, crashing into the tree._

 _The tree tilted, falling over, shattering a few ornaments in the process._

 _Worst part?_

 _Half of the tree landing in the fireplace._

 _Derek gaped wide eyed as the fire spread as Artemis yelled pulling off her jacket and attempting to swat the fire with it._

 _The jacket caught fire too, and with a yelp she dropped it._

 _Derek, breaking out of his comatose state grabbed the half full cups of hot chocolate, which was cold now, and dropped it on the fire._

 _The fire only hissed back in anger._

 _Derek placed his arm in front of Art's chest and pulled her back behind him._

" _Shit shit shit." Muttering, they scrambled around, together, pouring water, using Derek's shirt to fan the fire, stomping on it, which resulted in a seared pant leg for Derek, and even yelling at it to stop._

 _The tree was practically on fire now, leaving burnt carpet on it when Artemis screamed for the others._

 _In a few moments, Peter, Laura, Talia and Mary skidded to halt in front of the room, to find two sweating teens-one of which was shirtless and had half of the pant leg burnt off and one that had singed hair and a burnt sock with blistered feet._

 _So yeah. They were in a lot of trouble. No burns- just a bit of seared hair and blistered skin but they were grounded for the rest of the school year._

 _As for Christmas- it went on as it always did because, surprisingly, Talia and company were actually able to snag new stuff last minute-even a tree._

 _And as for the ornaments, Cora and Luke were more than happy to make more, but this time Derek and Art were made with their hair on fire._

Derek loaded the tree into the trunk, turning to see Artemis step out of the mall with at least six bags full of Christmas stuff. She made her way over with a small smile and placed the bags in the back seat as the tree now occupied most of the trunk.

"I brought you a present! You are gonna love it!" She smiled brightly, slipping into the front seat.

Derek strapped himself up and turned to her sheepishly, "I didn't get-"

Artemis cut him off with a wave of her hand, "Ah, don't fret! It's no biggie. My present isn't much but you need it." She gave another one of those blazing smiles, "plus I already have what I bought you so we can be twins!"

Derek rolled his eyes, the guilt ebbed away slightly, and turned the ignition on, and soon they were driving back to the warehouse.

"Where is everyone anyway?"

Artemis was currently in overalls she had picked up on the way back, and the craziest Christmas socks he'd ever seen, standing on two crates stacked over the other whilst draping up lights up on the Christmas tree

Derek shrugged.

"Look Der, I'm fluent in 3 languages, 4 if you include sign language, but 'shrug and grunt' is not one of them."

Derek rolled his eyes, "They went out together- the pack, probably to Scott's, to spend Christmas."

"Why aren't you there?"

He grunted and Artemis sighed. She picked up the star and attempting to place it on the top without toppling over. Derek stood up and went to her, steeped on the small crate with her, a little too close, before hoisting her up from the waist. She chuckled and placed the star before Derek, like a crane, dropped her off at the bottom and climbed off the crates too.

"Well," Artemis dusted off imaginary lint from her overalls, "Wanna bake some goodies with me?"

Derek gave her a look that made her feel she was alien.

"What?"

"Nothing," He shook his head, "We don't have any supplies."

Artemis just smiled, and wordlessly drifted off towards the bags that sat on the couch, and one by one, pulled out pretty much all that was needed to bake something.

Artemis turned to him with pursed lips and tilted her head in though, "I'm thinking- cookies-sugar, chocolate chip, more sugar! And then we can ice 'em!"

She bounced right past him, into the rusty little kitchenette that Derek had cleaned up so that the pack to fix up themselves something when they chose to meet up here.

Out came pots, whisking spoons, large wooden spoons. He could hear Artemis shuffle around, melting chocolate, dusting sugar, unpacking the boxes of cookie mix.

He just stood for a while, watching her as she piled up her long hair on the top of her head, leaving a few loose tendrils. She worked for a while before she looked to him expectantly.

"Come on then. We'll have a batch ready before the babies come back."

Reluctantly he stepped towards the kitchenette and cautiously picked up the box of icing sugar and began to prepare icing.

About 15 minutes into the silence Artemis pulled out her phone and played some old version of 'Jingle Bell Rock' and soon their movements became rhythmic. Artemis whisked the batter along the beat and kicked up one leg with the rhythm.

" _That's the jingle bell rooooock!"_ She twirled and immediately started dancing lightly around the kitchenette, mostly around a still Derek who slowly stirred the icing watching her cautiously.

And in no time, she got to deep into the song and decided she needed a partner, so with the bowl balanced under her arm she reached for Derek's hand and spun herself along the lines " _Jingle bell time, it's a swell time, bum bum bum_ ," She fell into Derek's arms, in an awkward dip, " _to go glidin in a one horse sleigh."_

From there it kind of got out of hand and soon Artemis found herself on top of the counter, lip syncing to ''Santa Clause is Coming to Town" whilst whisking up the cookie batter.

She danced, did a pirouette, twirled again and handed the batter to Derek, who, with a smile, began shaping the cookies on the tray.

The chocolate chip and sugar cookies were almost finished when "All I Want for Christmas" played. Artemis smiled at Derek creepily.

"Ah Der, it's your favorite!"

He scowled at her but didn't deny it, because he knew she knew how much he likes the song.

 _I just want you for my own_

 _More than you could ever know_

 _Make my wish come true_

 _All I want for Christmas is you_

She stood up straight, bowed slightly, and with a quirked eyebrow asked, "May I have this dance Hale?"

He rolled his eyes and much to her surprise, took her hand and twirled her suddenly, making her stumble and trip on her discarded shoes. She fell but grabbed Derek by the front of his shirt and soon they both landed haphazardly on the ground.

But Derek, being Derek, flailed and knocked over a bowl of blue icing on their way down and so they were both now blue and sticky.

Mariah Carey sang in the background and Artemis not missing a beat got up and pulled Derek up and soon they were on the couch legit lip syncing like baboons while jumping about with their arms linked.

It reminded her of the bittersweet memory of them doing this religiously every Christmas. It's been 7 years and they're adults now, but the sheer joy that came from this kind of fun was just completely unattainable in any other form.

 _And everyone is singing_

 _I hear those sleigh bells ringing_

 _Santa, won't you bring me the one I really need_

 _Won't you please bring my baby to me?_

Smeared head to toe in blue icing they jiggled, well mostly Art jiggled, Derek just walked, all the way back to the kitchenette where the cookies were now ready.

Out they came, smoking, filling the whole place with the toasty aroma of smelt chocolate and burnt sugary dough.

Soon Derek began randomly decorating them as Artemis sucked at all things art, including dancing as was so brightly displayed as she pranced around the warehouse in bright socks and overalls.

It was almost 8 by the time they had cleaned, which had included Artemis using a mop as a mic and Derek wiping table tops in an almost rhythmic manner, with another towel draped over his shoulder that made him look good enough to eat, but one look at the cookies Artemis disagreed with herself.

Nothing was on fire, which was a surprise since something usually caught fire when they got together, plus it was a cringe worthy pun at the fact that their families had dies in a crazy fire.

She was sitting in front of the fireplace, staring blankly at it, and Derek found himself fascinated by the way the fire reflected in her eyes, making them appear like liquid metal. He sat next to her, placing the hot chocolate in front of her, effectively breaking her out of her reverie.

She glanced down and grinned when she saw the floating A made of crushed chocolate, and her grin widened when she was the D on his drink.

Derek's face let no emotion slip, but as he raised his drink in cheers she saw that sliver of happiness and content that floated in his eyes. The eyes are the window to the soul after all

She was sipping contently; still sticky with blue icing, when she heard the cars pull up.

She looked at Derek, who looked hilarious with that scowl, unaware that he had icing on his eyebrow and jaw, making him look positively as harmless as an angry puppy.

"Guess their little Christmas outing is over, huh?" She wiggled her eyebrows, reaching for a cookie, laughing out loud when she saw it had a cartoon of her doing a pirouette on the counter drawn in icing.

Derek looked at the cookie, realizing why she was laughing and let himself a smile, proud that she liked it.

The sounds of the pack clambering out of the cars was louder, all of them talking before she heard a loud "SHHHHH"

"Do I smell cookies?" came the muffled question. It was Erica.

"Who made cookies?" That was Isaac she believed.

She smiled, giving Derek a wide eyed look telling him to prepare himself.

He just shook his head and took another sip of the hot chocolate.

"Who made coo-" the question dies in his throat when he saw the warehouse, decorated head to toe in the most orthodox Christmas manner that made Isaac's insides melt like the chocolate chips inside the cookies.

"We did!" Artemis chirped smiling as one by one everyone stood at the entrance, looking around at the rather festive looking warehouse.

"Well, who knew this place could clean up this good." Stiles whistled appreciatively.

"Back to the cookies," Scott intervened, sniffing deeply, "smells good."

"Yeah they do, but they're too pretty to eat!" Artemis showed them the cookie she was holding. "Damn you Derek for making them so cute. Now I don't want to eat them."

Derek rolled his eyes but didn't grace her with a response.

"Plus, it'll be like eating myself. Cannibalism at a whole new level"

"Just eat it, I'm sure it tastes great."

"Of course it'll taste good Hale, I made them after all."

Derek's eyebrows shot up, " _We_ made them."

Artemis narrowed her eyes, " _You_ only made the icing. I made the batter.'

"Well I baked them." He said rather monotonously.

They had a stare down, before they both lifted their mugs at the same time and took a sip, in unison, without breaking eye contact.

"Alright, too much sexual tension, break it up kids."

Not looking up Artemis replied, "Shut up Brad."

Wait a minute.

"Brad?"

She looked up so fast she got whiplash. Upon his sunny smile and glinting blond hair she leapt up, almost knocking her hot chocolate over Derek.

"BRAD!"

Brad laughed as she catapulted herself into his embrace, shattering everyone's eardrums with her squeals and screams.

They hugged for an eternity, rocking softly with Artemis still buried in his chest.

"What are you even doing here?"

He gave her a blinding smile, so similar to the one she had been gracing Derek with all day, "Haven't spent a Christmas without you, and I don't plan on it. Like ever."

Artemis bit her lip and went red all over before giving him a sweet kiss on the cheek.

She stepped back, "Derek and I made cookies." She said simply.

Artemis shot Derek a dirty look, only to see him unaffected with a crooked smirk plastered on his face.

"Shut up Hale."

"How come it's Hale and Lowe." asked Scott with a tilt of his head.

"You answer this one." Artemis smiled sickly sweet at Derek.

He just shrugged, "Lowe is better that Artemis."

Artemis shot him another dirty look, because she knew he knew she hated her name.

He shrugged innocently, "He asked."

"I call him Hale sometimes." She said with a wicked smile, "I usually refer to him as Der, or better yet, _Der Bear"_

Derek's ears burned a bright pink as he glared daggers at her.

"What?" she asked innocently, "He asked."

"Alright, break it up birdies" Brad put his arm around Artemis.

Erica coughed loudly, with barely concealed laughter, and Stiles looked he was chocking. Scott hid his grin by pursing his lip and Isaac had a fist in his mouth. Boyd's shoulders were shaking and he was a little teary eyed.

"Anyway," Brad started, addressing the pack, "Thanks for helping me arrange for my trip here. I really appreciate it."

"A friend of Art's is a friend of ours." Stiles stated proudly

"Dude, he's my brother."

Derek's eyebrows receded into his hairline, Erica and Isaac wore identical looks of disbelief, Boyd just stared at Brad, probably trying to form some kind of connection. Scott looked about convinced, or maybe he was so used to supernatural occurrences he no longer had the ability to be surprised. As Stiles, his eyes kept darting between Brad and Artemis.

"You guys look noting alike."

She looked up at Brad. Tanned skin, light hair, blue eyes. He looked nothing like her with her dark hair, cold eyes, pale skin and slight freckles on the nose.

"Yeah well, we're not biological."

Artemis rolled her eyes at Brad and walked towards Derek, took the mug of cold hot-chocolate and sat back down. She took a big bite of her cookie, biting off her head.

She looked back after chewing thoughtfully, "Well, it's way better than what we made last time."

Derek huffed a laugh, knowing that the last time they made cookies; they burnt them because Cora decided it was funny to tinker with the heat controls.

"Well, I'm not finishing these on my own."

And soon they were seated in a semi circle, Brad and Artemis exchanging Christmas stories with the pack, also sharing the Christmas tree fire incident. Somehow they steered into Halloween stories, St. Patrick 's Day etc. By the time they made it to Easter events, the fire was dwindling and everyone appeared more or less sleepy. Brad, slightly jet lagged, was already snoring with his head in Artemis' lap.

Seeing Brad and Artemis like that, probably made everyone's heart melt, but Derek felt envy trickle into him. Artemis had gone through the same thing, but had, fortunately, found someone to help fill up that gap. Derek, on the other hand, kept himself isolated, filled his need for love with meaningless flings, but didn't have anything rock solid yet. The pack was a first step towards achieving that kind of bond with other human beings and still he felt himself not being able to properly connect with them. Maybe it was the age gap, though that didn't seem to bother Artemis and Brad, or maybe it was just his reluctance to open up. Whatever the case, he was having a hard time adjusting to human beings like he did with his large family, friends at school- and the genuine feeling that he wasn't alone.

Today, he believed, was one of the first time s he's actually enjoyed the company of another human being, where there was no air of sex, or silent companionship. Artemis and he had a bond that, he realized, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't sever.

And for once, he was grateful for a part of his past resurfacing.

It was the best part after all.

He was broken out of his thoughts when Artemis tugged at his arm slightly. "Hey, can Brad stay here with you? I don't want to burden the Sheriff with another wacko."

He nodded distractedly, "Yeah, sure."

"Yay! Thank you Der."

He nodded in acknowledgment.

"What you thinking about?"

He looked at her wordlessly, not wanting to word his thoughts, and so thoughtlessly said, "The first Christmas we spent together."

And so began another trip down memory lane.

" _Why are we the only ones up?"_

 _Unoccupied couches were scattered in the lounge, placed close to the fireplace, which crackled with life as flames of orange and red sprung from beneath the logs. Above the fireplace, bright red stockings were hung, the protruding ends revealing the goodies stashed within them. The piano, victim of a child's mischief, was now decorated haphazardly in gift wrapping bows and lightings. But the main feature of the room was the large pine tree that towered overhead, customized ornaments hung on it and lightings draped on every branch. In the shadow of the willowy tree lay obnoxiously brightly wrapped boxes of various shapes- oddly alluring._

" _I don't understand." Derek's eyebrows were knitted together in innocent confusion. The 5 year old scratched his unruly black hair and stared wide-eyed at the girl standing next to him, "where is everyone?"_

" _Derrie B isn't everyone supposed to be up now. It's Christmas!" The little girl pouted, tears pooling in her eyes._

" _That's what I thought Arty Poo." He turned to her, and upon her sullen appearance he became stricken_

" _Hey" he whispered, "Don't be sad. We'll wake everyone up. Then we'll open the presents!"_

 _He grinned down on her and grabbed her tiny hand, pulling her up the stairs._

" _EVERYBODY WAKE UP!" Derek hollered his face red as he struggled to catch his breath. After all, he was only 5._

" _YEAH! GET OUT OF YOUR BEDS. SANTA WON'T BE HAPPY WITH DIS BEHAWIOUR!" Artemis' screams, though relatively shriller, were just as ineffective._

" _Shut up losers!" That was definitely Peter._

 _Artemis' eyes filled with tears again, her sniffles overpowering._

" _Hey Arty, don't cry. Please. We'll wake mommy. She'll wake everybody." He smiled at her then suddenly bit his lip, contemplating whether he should say it or not. Finally he decided to say it. "And Arty, it's be-havvvve-ee-er, not behawiour."_

 _Artemis tears suddenly dried up, her eyes becoming hard and her chin struck out in the air. "Whatever." She said snootily, before marching off to the master bed room, where Talia was asleep._

" _Okay, okay. I'm up." Talia muttered bitterly as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. "Jeez." She shook her head, her gaze eventually falling on the two trouble makers standing innocently before her._

 _Artemis' grey eyes were wide in a façade of a window to her inner innocence, whereas Derek just looked pissed as his eyebrows furrowed at the bridge of his cute nose, small arms crossed across his equally small chest._

 _Why must they be so adorable!_

 _Talia regretted putting these two together to bond._

" _Why weren't you up early?" Derek scolded._

" _Yeah Aunt Tally! It's Christmas." Artemis bit her tiny lip and looked sad._

 _Drama queen._

 _Hands up and palms out in surrender, Talia looked exasperated. "Yesterday was exhausting, with all the decorating and preparations. Cut me some slack."_

" _There will be no cutting of slack." Artemis pointed a finger at her accusingly. "You are a rezbonsible grown up, you should know Santa is unforgiving."_

" _Who is teaching you all this" Talia asked suddenly._

 _Derek and Artemis became quite, redness creeping up there chubby cheeks. "Uncle Peter." They murmured in unison._

" _Come on." Talia sighed, "Let's get go downstairs and wake everybody."_

 _Derek and Artemis' faces brightened up suddenly and they leaped in joy, clapping their hands together enthusiastically._

" _LET'S GOOOO!"_

 _Gosh, these kids._

" _Your momma sho fat, she looks like Santa in her red dress!"_

" _Derek." Talia warned._

" _Don't call Santa fat!" Artemis stomped her tiny foot down in frustration. "He's just a little chubby. All he needs is a little exercise, and maybe a diet plan."_

 _Derek blew out a raspberry, "No he's a fatass!"_

" _Derek!" Talia's eyes were the size of saucers, "Who taught you that? That's a bad word!"_

" _Peter said it." He whined out, shoulders slumped._

 _Talia quickly got up, looking furious, before she leapt over to where Peter was sitting. As she walked away Artemis turned to Derek._

" _Yeah and Peter also said that Derek's a know-it all."_

 _Derek sharply turned to Artemis, "He did?"_

" _Yeah, and I agree." She grinned slyly at him._

 _Derek's face fired up, "Well, you're-you'r-you're…"_

" _I'm what?"_

" _You're a pumpkin!"_

 _Artemis gasped, tears immediately pooling in her eyes. She sniffled and turned on her heel, before running out the front door._

" _Poop!" Derek cursed, looking distraught as he realized she wasn't going to talk to him now. He stared behind her for a long moment before someone grabbed his ear and wrenched it painfully._

" _Owwwww!" he wailed as Peter's face came into view_

" _You told Tally?" he spat spitefully, wrenching his ear more._

" _No! Arty-"_

" _Don't blame her. You told Tally. Now watch your back, because I'm the Grinch to this Christmas."_

 _He let go of Derek's now red ear and pushed him to the ground, as tears sprung from his eyes and fell on his chubby cheeks._

 _He didn't like this Christmas._

 _Derek sat idly by the fire as the rest of his family chattered animatedly and busied themselves in active Christmas games and activities. Neither Artemis nor Derek participated. Actually, Artemis was nowhere to be seen since their little spat. And without her, Derek felt bored beyond anything, along with the depression from Peter's attack._

 _Talia sat next to him as he stared at the fire, shoulders slumped and jaw slackened. "Hey baby, mind telling me what went down there. Why's Artemis crying outside."_

 _Derek's eyes widened at the news, "She's crying?" Suddenly remorse filled him up._

 _Talia raised a brow and stared him down as little Derek shuffled his feet, eyes cast sadly._

 _She sighed, "She in the backyard, on the old swing. You have 5 minutes mister. If you don't clean up this mess and bring me a happy Artemis then no dessert for you. For a week!"_

 _Derek trenched out through the backyard, leaving a series a footprints behind him. He was bundled up in two jackets, a scarf wrapped up tightly, and a red hat jammed on his head, over his ears._

 _He practically waddled up to the swings._

 _Artemis was sniffling and upon further inspection he discovered was inadequately dressed for the cold outside. Her nose and ears red, cheeks wet, eyes bloodshot._

" _Sowwy Arty Poo." Derek murmured as he shed his upper jacket and draped it over Artemis' shoulders._

 _She seemed to like the grand gesture and smiled slightly at him. She then giggled, "The tall pwetty man in the movie gave his jacket to the pweety lady too."_

 _Derek puffed his chest, "I'm a tall, pretty man too!"_

" _You're showter than me Der." She dead panned._

" _Whatever," He chirped happily, pulling her up to her feet. "Mama made dessert."_

 _And so they waddled up the porch, all their baby drama wrapped up_

"You said my mum was so fat that she looked like santa in a red dress." Artemis mused, amused when Derek's cheeks burned

"And I made you cry."

"That's literally all I remember."

They stared at the ceiling in wonder, oblivious to the fact that both of them were thing about the same thing- how their lives had changed and led to his moment.

"Stiles' getting sleepy. I better get him home."

She got up, pulled Derek up and kissed Brad on the forehead.

She turned to him with a soft smile, "Thank you for giving a Christmas I'm never going to forget."

She wrapped him in a hug that practically melted his cold insides. He gave in, exhaling as he wrapped his arms around her tightly. Just as she was about the pull back, he planted a kiss on her forehead.

She stepped back with a watery smile and kissed him on the cheek.

"See ya tomorrow Hale."

"I'll be waiting, Lowe"

"Oh and I left your present in the kitchen."

As soon as she left, he made his way to the kitchen, where, in a small transparent bag, were a pair of one of the brightest, craziest Christmas socks he'd ever seen.

The same as the ones Artemis was wearing all day.

He like them.

Probably because they reminded him that Artemis had a pair of the same ones.

And he liked remembering Artemis.

* * *

 **Penny for your thoughts? Review and favorite for more Holiday Specials- Arterek style**


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